Getting way off track here.
Redirecting.
I don't have many skills or talents to trade off but I have time. I have one friend that needed 1/2 hours worth of babysitting a few days when the kids got off the bus while she finished up school. No problem. You see she was finishing her hair dressers license. So I traded for haircuts....something that we need regularly. Perfect trade in my opinion.
I have another friend that does custom Birthday Cakes. I personally don't enjoy doing fancy cakes. I like to eat me some cake...but I'm not the decorating kind of girl. But my friend is. So I bartered a scrap, couch sized quilts for various custom birthday cakes. Sweet.
(Very sad after daughter destroyed the top - but hey, its her cake and it tasted the same! LOL)
My barter quilt is named Let Them Eat Cake...and took about 2 1/2 days to complete.
Made from leftovers in my scrap bin. The backing was a large roll of material I picked up at a thrift store for like $3 ... and I still have more even.
Quilt has now been delivered. All parties are happy and we both ended up with something of value.
So how about you? Do you barter with friends and neighbors?
It might be worth thinking about.
Love the quilt. Love the teen's cake, too. Butterfly is learning to decorate cakes and loving it! Aside from babysitting and being great at organizing, there's not much I am good at. I have considered swapping babysitting for whatever. It's a nice thought.
ReplyDeleteThat is a brilliant idea! I'm going to have to do this with friends, family and neighbors!
ReplyDeleteBartering is very smart. I wish more people around here would do it! I think they would if they knew others were willing, but how do you get the word out? Craig's List maybe?
ReplyDeleteThe quilt is very cool!
Craig's list would probably be good. Otherwise finding others in your community with something you want (fresh eggs from a local farm) and offering the barter. I figure now that a few people in my neighborhood KNOW I barter word will get around a little. I make sure and do some of my "transactions" at our bus stop in front of all the others....but I know you don't have that resource. I am also always on the lookout for a potential trade that I can offer up. For instance, we are having to put an adopted dog thru obedience training per the contract. I told hubs when he called to offer up my help in the "office" in exchange for the lessons -- filing, phone calls, whatever he might need. He didn't but I would have been willing if he had. But again...time is my biggest marketable trade right now. During the school year the kids are in school and I'm home alone and if they are out of school my oldest can babysit my youngest.
ReplyDeleteRight now I'd love to find someone right here in the neighborhood that crochets dishclothes from natural cotton yarns. I could offer up babysitting or maybe a home cooked dinner (unbelievable how many of the women I know don't cook). Or maybe I could wait until harvest time and trade for some home grown ripe tomatoes.
This is new for me so I don't have much experience at bartering yet -- but I'd really like to use it.
You could also offer up plant or pet sitting during vacations. Where you go to the house a couple of times a day.
ReplyDelete